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Looking Back: Pooh made do as Wolves’ 1st draft pick

STC
Published 10:17 p.m. CT June 21, 2014

Pooh Richardson (right) of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers battle for position in a game during the 1989-1990 season at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, Calif.(Photo: Getty Images)

When it is mentioned to Pooh Richardson that it doesn’t feel like 25 years have passed since the Minnesota Timberwolves made him the first draft pick in team history, the former UCLA standout chuckles.

“Man, how do you think it makes me feel,” Richardson said. “I can’t believe it’s been that long ago already.”

And yet it was indeed 25 years ago this week when the expansion Timberwolves, then preparing for their first NBA season, picked Richardson 10th overall in the 1989 NBA draft.

That meant the point guard — a four-year starter with the Bruins who set career school records for assists (833) and three-point field goal percentage (46.4) — was joining a roster made up of veteran cast-offs and rookies.

Such a make-up almost guaranteed the franchise would struggle on the court initially. But Richardson said that prospect didn’t diminish his enthusiasm one bit.

“Any young man who has the opportunity just to be in the NBA draft has to feel incredibly fortunate,” Richardson said. “It’s a big accomplishment and something I knew I’d cherish for the rest of my life. And I really felt fortunate to go to Minnesota where I knew I’d probably be thrust into the action immediately.

“Having gone to UCLA, I’d had a chance to play against a lot of the NBA guys. As a freshman, I had the chance to play against Magic Johnson. So I wasn’t going into the league in awe of anybody. It was more about getting the chance to learn the pro game, and I had that opportunity right away with the Timberwolves.”

Richardson quickly earned a starting job his first season and averaged 11.4 points and a team-best 6.8 assists per game. The Timberwolves finished 22-60 that first year. Despite playing in the Metrodome while construction on Target Center was completed, the franchise drew over a million fans — an NBA attendance record.

“I never felt a lot of pressure on me,” Richardson said. “The pressure we had was on us as a group. And that was just the pressure to perform well in front of such supportive fans. The fans in Minnesota were pretty realistic. They didn’t expect us to win a world championship. But they wanted us to perform better than the other expansion teams at that time — Miami, Orlando and Charlotte.”

Richardson’s stay in Minnesota lasted three seasons. After averaging 17.1 points per game in 1990-91 and 16.5 points-per-game in 1991-92, he and fellow Wolves original Sam Mitchell were dealt to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Chuck Person and Micheal Williams.

His career went on to include a stint with the Los Angeles Clippers from 1994-99 and a final season in 1999-2000 with Adecco Milan in Italy.

But he knows many people will always identify him with the Timberwolves.

“A lot of people know me from my time there and that’s a good thing,” Richardson said. “My time there was phenomenal. The fan base was tremendous. We were able to do a lot of things in the community. A guy like Sam Mitchell (who just returned to the team as an assistant coach) played a big part in that.

“Guys like he, Sidney Lowe (who also just rejoined the team as an assistant to Flip Saunders) and Tyrone Corbin were more or less our team leaders that first season. And they were great teammates to be around.”

Richardson still follows his old team, including the speculation surrounding the future of current star Kevin Love with the franchise. Love, like Richardson, played at UCLA. But it’s been widely-reported he does not want to stay in Minnesota and could soon be traded.

“I know him well and I think every guy wants to be put in an environment where they have a chance to win,” Richardson said. “They’ve added players like (point guard Ricky) Rubio and that’s great. But they still need some other guys to get to the place where (Love) probably wants to be.

“But I think getting the chance to work with a guy like Sam Mitchell could be good for Kevin. Sam is a guy who played in the league and who understands players’ mentalities. He knows how things are done in Minnesota and what the protocol is there. I think he’ll be a really good fit for that team. He’s a guy who could help draw in some free agents.

“The fact is Minnesota is a great place,” he added with a laugh. “I think those who live there sometimes don’t sell it enough because maybe they don’t want it to get too overcrowded.”

These days, the Los Angeles-based Richardson helps run Rival Sports Group, a sports management company he helped found five years ago.

“We represent a few players and it’s a pretty good group of guys,” Richardson said. “Our big thing is doing stuff to help guys prepare for life after basketball.”

He also has helped train actors for basketball-related roles in films. That included working with Adam Sandler and company prior to the filming of the “Grown Ups” movies.

“When actors do a basketball part in a movie they want to be able to do their own stuff,” Richardson said. “So I try to help them with that.

“Actors are really easy to work with because they’re used to following a script. You tell them to do this or do that and they do it.”

But Richardson said he still looks back fondly on his days with the Timberwolves.

“No one wants to lose and we all wanted to have more success,” Richardson said. “But the fans there made the first few years of a young franchise very tolerable for the players. The interaction we had with our fans back then was really second-to-none.”

Five years ago (2009)

St. John’s recruit Steve Johnson of Mahtomedi had touchdown runs of 3 and 52 yards as the Metro rolled past the Outstate 54-13 in the 36th annual state high school all-star football game at Husky Stadium. Johnson went on to start most of his four seasons in Collegeville and finished his career ranked eighth in school history with 2,233 career rushing yards.

10 years ago (2004)

MIAC executive director Carlyle Carter announced he was stepping down from his post at the end of the 2004-05 school year. He had served as the league’s executive director since 1994. He was replaced by assistant executive director Dan McKane, who remains the MIAC’s executive director today.

50 years ago (1964)

Three members of the Minnesota Twins — Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Bob Allison — were selected as starters on the American League all-star team in advance of the all-star game on July 7 at Shea Stadium in New York. The American League lost 7-4 to the National League that season.

75 years ago (1939)

Don Bohmer shot a low-round score of 72 as the team from St. Cloud won the Pine Beach Golf Tournament held on Gull Lake north of Brainerd for the third year in a row. The St. Cloud squad posted a team-average score of 79.